


Little Bedroom over a Tea-scented Apothecary

by AnUnknownForeignBeauty



Series: After the Epilogue [1]
Category: The Daevabad Trilogy - S. A. Chakraborty
Genre: Ali is oblivious, Dreams, During the Epilogue, F/M, Fluff, Humor, I ship Nahri/Ali, Kissing, Muntadhir teaches Ali bad words, Nahri is searching for happiness, Spoilers for Empire of Gold
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24916543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnUnknownForeignBeauty/pseuds/AnUnknownForeignBeauty
Summary: Her dreams had a book-stuffed bedroom over a tea-scented apothecary closed for the night. A modest home filled with laughter and ease, a place where Nahri wouldn’t need to perform. A person with whom she didn’t need to wear a mask. Still, she could not be hopeful. Still, she feared this little happiness crumbling apart in a moment’s notice.Set during the Epilogue. (Empire of Gold spoilers).
Relationships: Jamshid e-Pramukh/Muntadhir al Qahtani, Nahri e-Nahid/Alizayd al Qahtani
Series: After the Epilogue [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803742
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	Little Bedroom over a Tea-scented Apothecary

_But she will lay down her roots and see what grows…. Empire of Gold_

_._

_._

This night was unusually chilly for even the magical city of Daevabad. Nahri took a sip from her cup pulling her shawl tighter over her shoulders and immediately put it down. The tea was undeniably bad. Well, that was what you would get when you ask a certain prince to make tea. The prince in question was now immersed in numerous scrolls spread haphazardly over the little table in the middle of her small bedroom, muttering under his breath. Nahri clicked her tongue sympathetically and returned her concentration to the book Subha smuggled from the human world somehow. It was a fascinating book, unlike anything Nahri had seen before, full of colored drawings of human anatomy. Yes, djinn anatomy was a bit different from humans, but it was all she could get for now.

The bitter taste of the bad tea still lingered to her mouth, and Nahri decided that she could not concentrate on her studies anymore. She shut her book down and placed on the table with a thump sending some of Ali’s scrolls flying to the floor. “Nahri?” Ali finally raised his head from the report he was reading and gave her a surprised look, “What’s wrong?”

“I wonder if you lost your taste buds to the marid as well.” Nahri shook her head glaring pointedly at the empty teacup sitting beside Ali, “How could you finish that thing?

Ali glanced at his empty teacup and the half-empty teacup sitting beside Nahri, and grinned sheepishly, “Is the tea that bad?”

“Not only bad.” Nahri rolled her eyes, “It is horrible. I wonder if I can taste anything good in weeks.”

“Sorry.” Ali smiled guiltily putting down his quill, “I am getting you some pastry. Hope, that will help to wash away the bitterness.”

“Oh, you must, djinn prince.” Nahri lounged on the couch and rolled her eyes mirthfully, “Or I will kick you out of my house.”

Ali shook his head and rose from his chair. Even in this chilly night, he was dressed in a thin white cotton robe, ribbons of mists playing at his feet, soaking his clothes with tiny dewdrops. Nahri could escape a glimpse or two of his dark- silvery skin where his robe plastered to his skin. Well, there was no way to deny that the price was well….well-formed. Suddenly, Nahri felt an urge to trail her fingers over the silvery scars on his skin, feel the scales under her fingertips.

She shook her head forcefully trying to get rid of these thoughts. Still, she could not be hopeful so quickly, these little pockets of joys needed to be locked down before they came crashing down over her head. Opening her eyes, she found Ali had returned with two pieces of pastries. He placed one in front of her and took a bite from another one, and clicked his tongue savoring the sweetness. “You are right, Nahri, that tea was horrible. I didn’t notice.” He glanced miserably at the scrolls lying on the table between them, “I am so worried about tomorrow’s meeting. And the current condition of the treasury. I don’t know how to reduce the taxes yet keep the economics flourishing….” He picked up the paper he was reading earlier and flung it unceremoniously at Nahri, “If you want to have a look….”

Nahri caught the paper and ran her eyes over the numbers and notes scribbled in there and shook her head. If it was involved healing or things like that, she might give some useful input, but when it came to numbers, she was helpless. She took a bite of her pastry and looked at the prince once again drowned in the sea of scrolls, scribbling furiously over the reports.

“What do you think?” Ali gave her a hopeful look when she placed the scroll back on the table, “Do you think if I cut the taxes by thirty percent then can we….”

Wasn’t this kind of life she once dreamed? A little bedroom over tea-scented apothecary closed for the night, her drinking bad tea and him yammering over taxes, canals, and all other meaningless things. No more running from monsters, no more plotting revolutions.

“What do you think, Nahri?” Nahri was cut from her thoughts as Ali spoke again. White cream mustache over his full upper lip, strikingly contrasted against his dark skin, and the rather frustrated look in his yellow eyes while yammering about taxes made him rather inviting. Nahri felt a sudden urge to run her tongue over his cream mustache.

“It is midnight, Ali.” She replied instead. She dropped on the floor from her couch and began pulling away from the paper from his hand, “You need rest. You have a big meeting tomorrow.”

“But I need to finish reviewing all these notes before the meeting.” Ali held her gaze with a miserable smile, putting his hand over the paper she was pulling, “You don’t need to worry about me. I will go to bed as soon as I finish these.” His finger brushed hers, and Nahri didn’t miss the quickening of his pulse by a beat or two.

A sly smile crossed her lips.

Determined to beat some senses into his stubborn head, she moved behind him, and placed her lips close to his ear, “If you put down these papers, I can give you a suggestion or two.”

Ali, who was misled by the hidden-behind-the-fact tone of her words, failed to instantly absorb the import of her words. Although he was still worried about the impact of reduced tax rates over the newly established government in the changed Deavabad economy, the sudden offering of help from Nahri surprised him. Her fingers splayed sensuously across his cheek, and she smiled—a slow, lazy smile that made his heart leap unwillingly into his throat. Instantly wary, he put down his quill and demanded without preamble: "What are they?"

It was obvious the effect she had on the djinn prince and when he gazed innocently into her heavily lidded eyes, she could not ignore the secret admiration she felt for him. His obliviousness was a sharp contrast to Dara’s possessiveness and Muntadhir’s going down with the business approach. She had never dreamt such a night in the last five years, a quiet night over her hospital, watching someone burning for her with the mirrored longing. 

_He is smitten with you…_ Damn, Queen Harset, and her poisonous tongue.

She glanced toward the entrance of the bedroom to make certain they were private, then she turned the full seductive force of her dark gaze and a lazy smile on the oblivious prince sitting before her. She smiled inwardly. It was going to be more fun than she thought. "Like,” she said, smiling reassuringly into his glowing eyes as she matched her actions to her words, "Pleasing the woman before you."

Six months ago a night like this was nothing but a distant dream. She still remembered her conversation with Queen Harset, offering her to marry her son. For a moment Nahri had a glimpse of an unthinkable future, a dream where it was Ali, and not Muntadhir, on their wedding night, Ali burning her marriage mask.

But it wasn’t a vast royal apartment like the queen offered or matching thrones in Shefala’s majlis. Her dreams had a book-stuffed bedroom over a tea-scented apothecary closed for the night. A modest home filled with laughter and ease, a place where Nahri wouldn’t need to perform. A person with whom she didn’t need to wear a mask. Still, she could not be hopeful. Still, she feared this little happiness crumbling apart in a moment’s notice.

Her words made Ali blush immediately. The memory of their wedding night was still vivid in his mind, and he could not ignore the longing he felt for his wife. Ali glanced down at the delicate, long fingers gently imprisoning his upper arms, then at the vee of her night robe, before he finally raised his embarrassed gaze to her. "But we need to finish our preparation for tomorrow’s meeting."

Nahri squelched her shout of laughter, as well as the thoughtful reply that automatically sprang to her lips. "But you also need to please the woman you love." She whispered, feeling the heat on Ali’s usual cool skin, “I can guarantee you it will be an educational experience.” 

“But…” Ali glanced uncertainly at the heap of unread reports still sitting on the table ‘What about….. “

 _You will not regret_ , Nahri silently promised with an inner smile, correctly interpreting his hesitation. Tipping his chin up, she gazed into those wide, innocent eyes of his, and tenderness began to unfold within her—a sensation that had been as foreign to her until she realized this unspoiled, unpredictable, naïve man was in love with her, wanted her for her. She touched his bearded cheek with an unconscious reverence. 

The look in his eyes contained an open admiration she hadn't seen in anyone before, and she desperately wanted to believe nothing would go wrong in her life anymore. She would treat her patients in the hospital, crack grim jokes with Jamshid and Subha, play human games with Fiza during her days, and hear Ali’s rumbling about taxes and canals at night. She would watch her children grow as the world changed around her, the mythical city of djinn fading into legends. 

“Meetings can wait.” She whispered as her lips took his in a kiss, effectively shutting him up. She started it methodically, with an aim to teach the oblivious prince about the art of lovemaking. But she was terribly wrong; she realized the moment when she touched his lips with her as Ali kissed her back with the same eagerness. Ali’s overly willing lips evoked an unfamiliar sensation inside her, and the quiet kiss changed its course suddenly. Her mouth slanted over his with fierce tenderness, while her hand curved around his nape, her fingers stroking his scarred skin, and as his arm encircled her waist, moving her tightly to him.

Ali’s eyes wide opened. It was nothing like their first kiss from the fateful night, not the slow, sensual kiss they shared six months ago. It was tender, it was fierce. Out of pure instinct, as his lips tasted and courted hers, Ali slid his hands up her cheeks and wrapped his arms around her waist, clinging to her for support, innocently and unconsciously as she kept molding her body to his length. The moment he did, the seducer became seduced: Desire exploded in Ali's body. Automatically, he deepened the kiss, his mouth moving with a hungry, persuasive insistence on hers, while Nahri clung tighter to him, sliding her fingers into the crisp hair above his neckline, her entire body racked with jolt after jolt of wild pleasure. He kissed her long and lingeringly, then she touched her tongue to his trembling lips, coaxing them to part, insisting, and when they did, her tongue slid between them, filling his mouth. His hand shifted from her back to her midriff, sliding upward toward her breasts.

Whether from pleasure or desire, Ali moaned softly, and the sound somehow penetrated her aroused senses, dragging Nahri reluctantly back to reality. She broke the kiss and stared in his eyes, unable to believe the passion he had unexpectedly evoked in her.

_I need to learn to enjoy the little moments of happiness without any fear of losing them._ Nahri thought, leaning closer as Ali brushed his lips gently against hers.

“Well,” His eyes were wide, and he was still out of breath. “That…that was really educational.”

“Told you.” Nahri winked. Ali murmured something under his breath in Divasti.

“What did you say?” Nahri glanced at him, scandalized. Ali glanced at her, confused. “Well, I said that was amazing.” He repeated in Djinnisatni, “Or _Muntadhir_ taught me so.”

Nahri clasped her hand over her mouth, unable to control her laugh. Ali looked more confused. “What’s wrong with this time?”

“The exact phrase you said as amazing, that has another meaning.” She grinned, “You know the slang word… _Fuck_.”

“My God.” Ali’s eyes widened, “I can’t believe Muntadhir is now teaching me swear words. Last time it was Jamshid. I am really going to command all the liquids under their house to back up .”

“Good for them.” Nahri grinned, slipping into his lap, “Now shut up and do what you had just said.”

.

.

.

In the early morning, the young couple was arisen from their sleep by a knock from two angry djinns at their door. “I know it is your doing, little brother.” Muntadhir winked at Ali as he pretended innocence, and then glanced at the disheveled Nahri at his side, “But I guess, the night went well.”

“Umm…” Ali blushed and opened his mouth to speak, but Muntadhir was already shaking his finger in front of his face. “But that is not going to get you rid of paying the cost of a plumber at my house.”

Nahri laughed. Ali groaned. It was not to be going good for the economy.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kuddos will bring joy to the writer. 
> 
> This story set during the canon epilogue of the 3rd book, though the book has a more open ending. But I can't resist writing about how cute these two are.
> 
> English is not my first language. So consider my errors nicely.  
> This is going to be a series of one-shots. The next one will be about Muntadhir and Jamshid.


End file.
